F-305 Multirole Combat Starfighter
Summary The F-305 was developed as one of the first of Earth's purpose built starfighters. Whilst craft such as the F-302 and XAF-1 are designed to operate both inside and outside a planetary atmosphere, the F-305 is designed primerially for extra-atmospheric combat. History and Use Since the introduction of the F-302 in 2002, the US Air Force and Department of Defence began to design and develop the next generation of fighter craft, based on a fusion of alien and earth technology. Having learned several important lessons from the development of the X-301 and the F-302, the F-305 was developed from the ground-up based on Earth technologies which had been developed from rever-se engineered alien technology (like it's predecessor). Additionally, the F-305 was designed with the initial purpose of being a space superiority asset, with atmospheric combat being considered a secondary consideration. The first X-305 rolled off the production line at the joint USAF-Colson Industries testing facility at Edwards Airforce base, Nevada in 2008. After a series of rigarous tests and evaluations, the F-305 went into full production in 2010, with the updated F-305A being produced in 2015 Hull The airframe for the F-305 was developed partially from that of the F-302, keeping the cockpit and control systems in a similar arrangement, to allow for easier and quicker transition of pilots. The remainder of the airframe was designed to reduce the overall mass of the F-305. Systems The F-305 features many updates to flight control systems, designed to allow for easy transition of pilots from standard atmospheric aircraft to a starfighter. The cockpit and flight control system is modular and upgradeable, to allow for simpler on-base maintenance. Additionally, pilots who are trained in full starfighter principles are able to exchange out the "airbreather" controlls for a more advanced 3-dimensional combat control system, which allows for more effective combat operations in space. The F-305 also features a standard suite of ECM systems, sensors, multi-ttarget acquisition and limited stealth properties. Weaponry Initially, the F-305 was designed to have multiple missile hardpoints. However, as development continued, the decision was made to swap from standard missile hardpoints to a new Raytheon designed multi-function missile tubes. These tubes allowed for the use of a wider variety of mission payloads, including non-weaponised missiles, such as sensor probes and EWAR packages. The secondary armament of the F-305 is a pair of forward facing 10mm dual-bore railcannons. Designed by General Dynamics, following on from developments of the railgun systems used previously in US spacecraft, these cannons provide several improvements over earlier generations. Each cannon features a dual-bore rail, which allows for two projectiles to be fired simulataneously from each cannon. Additionally, it's design also allows for a plasma burst charge to be fired, which is created by firing a hyper-accelerated package of Deuterium, which transforms into high energy plasma upon impact with a target. This causes a powerful EMP discharge, but very little physical impact. As such, most F-305's are only outfitted with a limited number of these charges. Powerplant The main powerplant of the F-305 is two Pratt & Whitney Fusion thrusters, which utilises the plasma output of the onboard deuterium reactor to provide thrust whilst in space. The engines are supplimented by a ram-jet engine for atmospheric flight. Like the F-302, the F-305 has an inbuilt artificial gravity system, designed and developed by E-X Technologies. This system is primerially used for it's interial damping properties, but has also been expanded to allow for limited use anti-gravity VTOL. Shields The F-305 does not have energy shielding, due to the limited space offered by the airframe, and the excessive mass of a shield generator. However, improvements in the design of the E-X Tech anti-gravity system allows for the gravity generators to emit a small "gravity pulse" which is able to deflect physical projectiles at short range. However, this system requires a temporary disabling of the inertial damping systems, and as such, is of limited use in a dogfight situation. Variants The US Department of Defence is currently evaluating the performance of the F-305A, with view to develop a fully atmospheric operating variant of the F-305. Additionally, the F-305B has been designed for international sales and operation by other countries who are members of the UNE, ---- Back to Technological database Category:Ships Category:Earth Tech